Car cosmetics - paint - should I repaint my car or get it touched up?

[DVad3r]

Hey guys,

I drive a 2001 Lexus ES 300 and plan on driving this car into the ground. The paint though has taken a beating in random spots with chips and scratches etc. Touch up doesn't do it justice anymore.

I was thinking of getting something done about it, but not sure what I can do as I have zero experience with this sort of thing. Should I repaint my whole entire car or just get it touched up professionally?

Advice/opinions?

 

[thedarkwolf]

how about nothing?

 

[Jeff7181]

It all depends on how much you want to spend and how good of a repair you want. The proper way to do it is to sand it down to the primer if chips haven't gone through to the metal... if they've gone through to the metal it needs to be taken down to the bare metal, possibly media blasted, prepped, primed and repainted.

If they're just down to the primer you can probably get away with a very fine sanding, prime and paint.

If they're just in the clear coat they can likely be buffed out or filled with one of those products you see advertised on TV.

Body shops can do just single panels... but they usually want to blend into adjacent panels, especially if your paint is metallic because it's nearly impossible to match a color closely enough that you can't see the difference when you have one panel butting up to another one, like where the fender meets the door.

Another option, if most of your chips are on the front fascia due to normal stone chips from driving, you could replace the entire fascia and have it sprayed to match, which is probably cheaper than having them do all the prep work to even out the surface before respraying your existing fascia.

If you plan to repaint the entire car, be prepared to spend 3-5 thousand depending on the amount of work that needs to be done, the type of paint and the quality of work.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

IMO if it's just rock chips then it isn't worth doing right on a beater.

Paint jobs are usually either cheap and peeling a few years or $$$$$$$$. I.E. it's other done right or it's done shitty, not much in between.


For just rock chips buy color matched paint from color-rite and do it yourself. It can take a few coats to build the depth back but it looks good.

 

[Jumpem]

A nine year old car isn't worth spending that kind of money on.

 

[DVad3r]

Thanks for the tips guys. I have no clue how much it costs, but I imagine I wouldn't have to repaint the whole car...either way, I like having a car that looks good.

 

[Jeff7181]

Thanks for the tips guys. I have no clue how much it costs, but I imagine I wouldn't have to repaint the whole car...either way, I like having a car that looks good.

It might be worth spending a grand or two to have the worst body panels repainted. It'll be much better than having rust start.

 

[DVad3r]

Well like I said, I plan on driving this car into the ground with style. For a 9 year old car it looks amazing and only has 130,000 km on it. I also maintain it like a baby, so we will see how long it lasts. My dad's Camry is a 1992 and has 475,000 km on it, my goal is to beat him

 

[DVad3r]

IMO if it's just rock chips then it isn't worth doing right on a beater.

Paint jobs are usually either cheap and peeling a few years or $$$$$$$$. I.E. it's other done right or it's done shitty, not much in between.


For just rock chips buy color matched paint from color-rite and do it yourself. It can take a few coats to build the depth back but it looks good.

lol dude, I don't consider my car to be a beater and still get compliments from people on how nice it is. I'm not one of those people that replaces his every 2-3 years either. My friends 98 Sunfire, now that's a beater.

 

[DVad3r]

A nine year old car isn't worth spending that kind of money on.

No, it's better to buy a new one and be raped with payments for the next 5 years.